Integrating Constrained Experiments in Long-term Human-Robot Interaction using Task– and Scenario–based Prototyping

© 2015 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis© Dag Sverre Syrdal, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Kheng Lee Koay, and Wan Ching Ho. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. Permission is granted subject to the terms of the License under which the work was published. Please check the License conditions for the work which you wish to reuse. Full and appropriate attribution must be given. This permission does not cover any third party copyrighted material which may appear in the work requested.In order to investigate how the use of robots may impact everyday tasks, 12 participants interacted with a University of Hertfordshire Sunflower robot over a period of 8 weeks in the university’s Robot House.. Participants performed two constrained tasks, one physical and one cognitive , 4 times over this period. Participant responses were recorded using a variety of measures including the System Usability Scale and the NASA Task Load Index . The use of the robot had an impact on the experienced workload of the participants differently for the two tasks, and this effect changed over time. In the physical task, there was evidence of adaptation to the robot’s behaviour. For the cognitive task, the use of the robot was experienced as more frustrating in the later weeks.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Distribution and Pathogenic Potential of Soil Fusaria from Selected Oil Palm Habitats in West Malaysia

A total of eight species and two varieties of Fusarium was isolated from the sampling sites in the oil palm habitat. Fusarium solani and Fusarium oxysporum were the most prevalent species followed by Fusarium semitectum. The other species and varieties isolated showed a more sporadic occurrence. Generally, soils from oil palm rhizospheres and young palm areas contained a larger number and greater variety of Fusarium species than soils from the avenues and older palm areas. Pathogenicity tests of Fusarium species isolated showed that none were capable of producing vascular wilt or other diseases on oil palm seedlings. Some of the isolates, however, caused a reduction of growth in the test seedlings. Comparative studies of F. oxysporum isolates from oil palm habitat in Malaysia with F. oxysporum f. sp. elaeidis isolates from Africa showed that the two groups of isolates were ind istinguishable in their cultural, morphological and isozyme characteristics. Subsequent pathogenicity tests proved that the F. oxysporum isolates from Africa were pathogenic, causing vascular wilt on the Malaysian oil palm seed lings whilst the F. oxysporum isolates from Malaysia were non-pathogenic to the wilt-susceptible African oil palm seed lings and Malaysian oil palm seed lings. Inoculation of Malaysian F. oxysporurn isolates on Malaysian oil palm seedlings and wilt-susceptible African oil palm seedlings, subjected to an initial period of water stress, also did not result in showing any d isease symptoms

QUANTUM JAZZ: LIQUID CRYSTALLINE WATER MUSIC OF THE ORGANISM

Quantum jazz describes the quantum coherent organism in which every single molecular player is spontaneous and free, yet perfectly in step and in tune with the whole. This remarkable state of being depends on the liquid crystalline water matrix that enables each molecule to intercommunicate with every other, creating the most exquisite light and sound displays that span 70 octaves in all the colors of the rainbow. The quantum coherence of organisms profoundly revolutionizes our concept of health and disease. Health is a state of quantum coherence reflected in the complex dynamics of body rhythms such as the heartbeat, the respiratory rate, and brain waves that are correlated like an exquisite symphony. Consequently, loss of coherence (disease) can be diagnosed with sophisticated mathematical tools. The organism coordinates its functions by quantum electrodynamical inter-communications, in which the quantum coherence of water plays a central role. That is why the organism is hypersensitive to weak electromagnetic fields and other subtle energy interventions

Decoding quantum errors with the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill code

Implementing quantum error correction has been difficult in practice. Techniques from engineering, computer science, coding theory, experimental and theoretical physics have been blended together to tackle this problem. Traditionally, quantum error correcting codes mostly focus on dealing with phenomenological Pauli errors primarily due to their theoretical convenience. But this approach neglects physical types of noise, which are more realistically modelled with physically motivated noise models. This work focuses on a specific encoding in quantum computing called the Gottesman-Kitaev Preskill (GKP) codes. Firstly we study the basic properties and quantum estimation capabilities of a closely related state that is symmetric in phase space called the grid sensor state, motivating the GKP code as a good candidate for physical qubit level error correction in quantum optics. The grid codes aim to correct for errors before they build up to become Pauli errors. Then, we propose a quantum error correction protocol for continuous-variable finite-energy, approximate GKP states undergoing small Gaussian random displacement errors, based on the scheme of Glancy and Knill [Phys. Rev. A 73, 012325 (2006)]. We show that combining multiple rounds of error-syndrome extraction with Bayesian estimation offers enhanced protection of GKP-encoded qubits over comparible single-round approaches. Furthermore, we show that the expected total displacement error incurred in multiple rounds of error followed by syndrome extraction is bounded by 2√π. Finally, we show that by recompiling the syndrome-extraction circuits, all the squeezing operations can be subsumed into auxiliary state preparation, reducing them to beamsplitter transformations and quadrature measurements.Open Acces

Ernest Bloch's Poems of the Sea, Nirvana, Five Sketches in Sepia - A Stylistic and Pedagogical Study

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was an important Jewish composer. He developed his individual style by employing several diverse musical styles. His music shows characteristics of his Jewish heritage, Western musical tradition, and French impressionism. Bloch is known for his chamber music, string works, and opera. In addition to these works, he composed several solo piano works which are seldom performed today. It is worthwhile to explore his piano music which contains various musical styles that were influenced by his different life experiences. Bloch's piano works, Poems of the Sea, Nirvana, and Five Sketches in Sepia were all written in the 1920s when he lived in Cleveland. This paper contains a discussion of the stylistic features of these three works. They show the influences of his Jewish heritage and French impressionistic traits. Bloch did not quote Jewish melodies directly, but he was influenced by the modal characteristics of the music particularly the Phrygian mode. There is also much use of parallel chords, an impressionistic trait, and the use of quartal and quintal harmonies and the octatonic and whole-tone scale. From the pedagogical point of view, these works are good teaching pieces for intermediate to advanced level students. I will discuss the pianistic problems and how to solve them based on the teachings of Tobias Matthay. I will also discuss musical interpretation based on Matthay's ideas, and musical progression based on Marcel Tabuteau's ideas as explained in David McGill's book, Sound in Motion

QUANTUM JAZZ: LIQUID CRYSTALLINE WATER MUSIC OF THE ORGANISM

Quantum jazz describes the quantum coherent organism in which every single molecular player is spontaneous and free, yet perfectly in step and in tune with the whole. This remarkable state of being depends on the liquid crystalline water matrix that enables each molecule to intercommunicate with every other, creating the most exquisite light and sound displays that span 70 octaves in all the colors of the rainbow. The quantum coherence of organisms profoundly revolutionizes our concept of health and disease. Health is a state of quantum coherence reflected in the complex dynamics of body rhythms such as the heartbeat, the respiratory rate, and brain waves that are correlated like an exquisite symphony. Consequently, loss of coherence (disease) can be diagnosed with sophisticated mathematical tools. The organism coordinates its functions by quantum electrodynamical inter-communications, in which the quantum coherence of water plays a central role. That is why the organism is hypersensitive to weak electromagnetic fields and other subtle energy interventions